2nd Peter 3:1-10

2 Pet. 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:2 Pet. 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

It is interesting that not until this third chapter, which is after the startling introduction of the first and second chapters, does the Apostle Peter say, “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you.” He is saying in effect, “I will now go into the real reason that I am writing this second epistle to you, namely, to show the necessity for our own personal character development in order to be ready to meet the Lord.” We need more than mere “news” development—more than just knowing about prophecy and what is to take place—for when that day comes, when the Lord comes to take the final members of the Churh, the crucial issue is that we are to be ready! Therefore, Peter now declares his intention to introduce somewhat belatedly the more important matter to be discussed: “I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and ... the apostles.”

Peter is telling us that what he is about to say is not a new subject, for both the Old Testament and the New Testament bear testimony on the subject of the last days.

2 Pet. 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,2 Pet. 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

“Coming” is parousia in the Greek, that is, “presence.” “Where is the promise of his [Jesus’] presence?” The word “presence” gives a little clue as to the nature of the scoffers, for they will mock present truth. While, in effect, they will be scoffing at God, they will be directly mocking those who are purportedly in present truth. The preponderant number of the scoffers has been correctly identified as being in the nominal Church. In other words, professed Christianity will turn on those who profess present truth.

However, instead of trying to identify this prophecy as occurring now, we believe it pertains to events that have not yet happened. At present, we are not being particularly mocked. Whatever is said privately or in seminaries about present truth does not really trouble us, for we can still meet in peace. Therefore, the fulfillment of this prophecy must be thought of as still future.

“Where is the promise of his coming?” has the thought of “Where is the evidence of Jesus’ presence?” Professed Christians will laugh and say, “To us, your claim that he is already present is ridiculous.” The very fact the word is “presence” suggests an attitude and situation that are just beginning to take place; that is, some with a present-truth background, some who are associated with what we call the Truth movement, are going into the nominal Church. At present, they are going because they are dissatisfied with certain things. But there is another point: when the hour of the beast takes place, when persecuting power is formulated, when it is time for us to refuse to say, “A confederacy,” pressure will be brought to bear on the Truth movement to join in the ecumenical movement in a meaningful way. Even now the various denominations are trying to unite, but the time will come when pressure is exerted on all who profess Christianity, whoever they are, to join the ecumenical movement.

For instance, the evangelical churches are already joining together to try to apply pressure business-wise. Alongfinancial lines, the evangelical movement is trying to have Christians do business with fellow Christians. They also exert pressure along political lines and say, “If you believe in righteousness and godliness, why don’t you vote, participate, and join instead of just talking?”

However, the hour of power will add another dimension. Instead of just preaching ecumenism, they will try to enforce it through real pressure and persecution. Those of our membership will then have to make a decision, and many will join the ecumenical movement. The trend we see starting now will increase as the hour of power approaches, the result being that many right in the congregations of the nominal Church will be knowledgeable about present truth and the parousia of Christ. Stated another way, a knowledgeable element will be on the opposing side, and this element will develop into the Judas class. Based on the type of Jesus’ last week, a Judasclass will turn on fellow brethren at the end of the age. Just as Judas met with the scribes and Pharisees to discuss how to betray Jesus, so the Judas class will associate with the nominal Church and betray their consecrated brethren in present truth. Whereas the motive of Judas was greed, the motive of the Judas class will be expediency and prudence.

Of course, of those who do not join the nominal Church at that time, not all will be in the Little Flock. However, those who do not make their calling and election sure will be protected in the Time of Trouble in the sense that the wrath of the people will be against the false Christian Church and not against those whom the public realizes led a life of sincerity. When pressure is brought against the nominal Church and the system falls, the Lord will overrule so that the Great Multitude class does not feel the brunt of the trouble but is forced out of Babylon. It isthe compromising class—those who pursue a policy of expediency—who will develop into the Judas class.

The attitude of the scoffers in the nominal system will be, “Where is the evidence of his presence? All things continue the same as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

Evangelicals expect Jesus to come as a future visual event.

Comment: On religious radio stations, the comment has been made that Christians should hire Christians. A “Yellow Pages” directory of Christian businesses has been prepared, and it is urged that we should use them when we want work done.

Reply: In other words, this is a foregleam of the mark of the beast, and those who do not cooperate will find their pocketbook pinched in various ways. The Freedom of Information Act, which allows public access to private information including Social Security numbers and bank accounts, has the potential for aiding persecution.

What does the term “walking after their own lusts” mean? There are all kinds of lusts. In fact, expediency or protecting one’s own financial interests or fellowships is a form of “lust.” With the presence starting in 1874 and the current date being more than 120 years later, the time seems long and the expectations of the spiritual rapture of the Church have not materialized. The test of time, mixed with sarcasm and mocking, leads many to question the invisible presence.

2 Pet. 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

What about the word “willingly”? This class either did not want to be instructed or, if they had understanding at one time, went contrary to it. If a Christian goes into darkness, “how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). And why is this class “willingly ignorant”? Because they walk “after their own lusts.”

Comment: 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12 applies to this class who go back on the truth they once had. “They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Their “unrighteousness” is related to lusts and lawlessness.

Reply: This previously enlightened class go into darkness and receive just condemnation. Because they received the truth but not the love of the truth, they will be extinguished in Second Death. This falling away within the Truth movement is described in principle in Psalm 91:7, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”

“By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.” At the time of Noah, there was not the full realization that three quarters of the surface of the earth is water and only one quarter is land. In those days, the world’s population lived in the Middle East in a relatively small portion of the earth. Hence the people were not cognizant of the mass of water on the face of the globe. In addition, there was a mass of water over their heads, that is, the last water ring, which fell at the time of the Deluge.

Long before human beings lived on earth, many deluges occurred, and some of the later ones buried the dinosaurs in the Carboniferous Era, when the atmosphere was so heavy-laden that the bone structures had to be enormous to survive. Thus large sea and land creatures were buried in ice long before Noah’s day. Prior to man’s creation, the heavier materials were filtered out by gravity as various rings collapsed. What was left in Noah’s day was a clearer, more transparent veil of water around the earth that diffused the sunlight and gave the air ahazy appearance. The haziness seemed normal to the people back there, for they had never seen a clear atmosphere. They did not realize that the water ring was creating the hothouse climate or effect. However, the fact that Peter describes the people as “willingly ignorant” means they had been previously informed. The Scriptures do not give us the information, but someone knowledgeable about the water ring was on hand to inform them. And then Noah came along and said the water ring would collapse and cause a Flood. Therefore, the people theoretically knew about the ring, but because it had existed for more than 1,656 years, they did not believe it would collapse.

The point is that if God predicts and describes coming trouble, it will occur. Even though rain had never fallen up to that point, the Flood came as prophesied by Noah. And just as Noah prophesied back there, so in the Truth movement today, there is knowledge of trouble to come in the near future.

2 Pet. 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:2 Pet. 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.2 Pet. 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.The coming judgment at the end of the age will be a “judgment ... of ungodly men,” a judgment of those who merit perdition, or Second Death. The strong point is that those who sincerely profess consecration and then later depart and never come to repentance will go into Second Death if they are deemed culpable. One purpose of the “fire” is the “perdition of ungodly men” at the end of the Gospel Age. In the testing of the Little Season at the end of the Kingdom Age, another “perdition of ungodly men” will occur. Therefore, Peter brings in the thought that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” God’s purpose is to have a clean universe without sin. After the Little Season, anyone who sins will go into Second Death immediately. God will always hold that prerogative.

Q: Wouldn’t the phrase “perdition of ungodly men” have special force because it follows the second chapter of this epistle, which discusses the Judas class and parallels the Book of Jude?

A: Yes, these ungodly men “have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam ... who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pet. 2:15). They are “wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Pet. 2:17). The crux of the matter is that there will be a perdition of ungodly men both in the last days of the Gospel Age and at the end of the thousand years. In other words, the thousand years are a screening process that will eventually clean out the universe—like a filter.

Q: Are verses 7 and 8 saying that the “day of judgment” is the thousand-year period and that the incorrigible will be screened out in the forepart, throughout, and at the end?

A: Yes, it is a screening process. The seeming slackness concerning God’s promise led to the earlier question “Where is the promise of his coming [presence]?” What in reality is not a delay just seems to be a delay, but the stress of waiting unsettles some to their injury, spiritually speaking.

2 Pet. 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

“Us-ward” refers to the consecrated of the Gospel Age. It is true that God wants to save mankind and has appointed the Kingdom Age of mercy for that purpose, but the consecrated of the Gospel Age, who are already informed, who are informed in advance, are responsible.

Thus there are two “screening outs”: during the Gospel Age for the consecrated and in the Kingdom for the world of mankind.

2 Pet. 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” How does a thief come in the night? He sneaks in undetected, stealthily. Therefore, Jesus’ presence is a secret presence at first. Just as the thief’s presence is discovered later, after the fact, by a smashed window, the loss of goods, etc., so the “day of the Lord” comes secretly. From a natural standpoint, it is a shock or surprise when people suddenly realize a thief has broken into their house.

Thus there are two aspects: (1) a secret, unobserved intrusion (parousia) that is (2) later realized (epiphania, apokalupsis). The day of the Lord comes in as a thief, and the explosion, or “great noise,” occurs later. The initial invisible presence will subsequently become manifest with light, fire, revealment, and startling revelations when the Lord speaks in anger in Israel. He will be revealed when He visits judgment on Gog and Magog and delivers the Holy Remnant.

Q: 2 Peter 2:21 reads, “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” Would this verse apply particularly to a newly consecrated class? If so, it seems to apply especially to what is happening in the Bible Student movement today where some of the younger ones are going into the nominal Church.

A: Yes, that is true at present. However, under the “pressure cooker” at the very end of the age, some of the consecrated of all ages and lengths of consecration will be affected.

The entire thrust of 2 Peter 3 is an admonition to sincere Christians, who are desiring to please the Lord. While we desire to hasten the coming of the Kingdom and the exoneration of God’s character, there is also a measure of trepidation. Some say we should never fear, but that is not what the Bible says. God appreciates those who fear and tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:5; Phil. 2:12).

The thought of lasciviousness in the Book of Jude is a little different from the aspect Peter treats. Jude goes into the reason for walking after the flesh, whereas Peter goes into greater depth in his two epistles, especially in the end-of-the-age aspect of his second epistle.

To Protestants, the worship of the Virgin Mary is a hard pill to swallow, but when they see the trouble, they will compromise and join the confederacy (Isa. 8:12). Even today we see the standards deteriorating. Protestants used to protest. We live in an age of compromise and homogenization.